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Bolt clears the air on the specific reasons he never made it in football having earned trials at Borussia Dortmund and Central Coast Mariners.
Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt has explained why he never made it in football after he decided to hang up his spikes in order to pursue a career in the sport back in 2017.
After dominating the track and setting world records in the 100m and 200m races, Bolt hung up his spikes in 2017 and decided to chase a new dream—football.
Despite training with top clubs like Borussia Dortmund and Norway's Stromsgodset, Bolt's most promising opportunity came with Australia's Central Coast Mariners in the A-League.
While he showed flashes of potential, even scoring in a couple of friendly matches for the reserve team, his football journey was cut short due to a disagreement over the time required to get him in peak condition.
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11:51 - 29.08.2024
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Speaking on the ObiOne podcast, Bolt reflected on his football trials and the challenges he faced. He revealed that his initial training stints with clubs like Dortmund were more of a publicity move than a serious attempt to launch a football career.
“For me, it was some training initially because Puma sponsored Dortmund, so they were like, ‘You know what, come for a few days, hang out, train with the guys, and you never know what could come from it’. It was fun,” Bolt shared.
However, the media frenzy that followed him everywhere turned out to be a significant obstacle. Looking back, Bolt now views his decision to train in Europe as a misstep.
“I think that was a mistake. The reason I went was because the media was so much on me, they were like, ‘Let’s see what Usain could do’. I knew if I stayed in Europe, the media would be on me,” he explained. To escape the relentless spotlight, Bolt chose to move to Australia, where he hoped for a quieter environment to develop his football skills.
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17:00 - 21.08.2024
Rai Benjamin on why narrowly beating Letsile Tebogo in the Paris Olympics 4 x 400m final was the most difficult victory of his career
Benjamin anchored USA to the 4 X 400m relay final at the Paris Olympic games, narrowly edging out Letsile Tebogo-anchored Botswana, but he has explained candidly why it was the toughest victory of his career.
“Some of my friends went, ‘Yo, the Australian league, it’s easy, you can come and learn and develop’. I was thinking, yeah, that’s a nice idea; no one is going to travel that far to come and watch us,” Bolt recalled. Despite his optimism, the transition from sprinting to football proved more challenging than anticipated.
Bolt described how different football training was from what he was used to as a sprinter. “When I got there, training was going well.
“I even called my coach because to get fit, it was different. Football training is different—they didn’t do a lot of running like I did to get in shape. They do a lot of ball work and then one day a week they run. I called my coach and asked him to send me a program to get into shape,” Bolt said.
Despite these efforts, the club insisted it would take four months for him to reach the level needed to compete in the A-League—far longer than the two months Bolt had planned to spend getting ready.
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10:00 - 27.08.2024
Letsile Tebogo declares the toughest race between 100m and his favored 200m
Tebogo has found much more success in the 200m this season.
“I remember he [the assistant coach] took a liking to me and said, ‘Yo, this is so good’. The speed that you bring, your touch... He taught me a few little things, and I was like, ‘I like this’,” Bolt recounted.
However, when the head coach insisted on the four-month timeline, Bolt realized he couldn’t wait that long. “I was like, ‘I am not going to sit here. I can make money some other way. It was fun for the time it lasted, and I actually enjoyed it.’”
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